


One Fish Two Fish

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Children, F/M, Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-11
Updated: 2009-01-11
Packaged: 2019-05-15 04:32:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14783643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: This is in the 6 Minutes universe. Ella's fish is sleeping on its side.





	One Fish Two Fish

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

“Daddy?”

“Yes, Princess.”

“How do fish sleep?”

“What?”

“Fish, how do they sleep?”

“I have no idea, baby.”

“Oh.” Five year old Ella Joan said. Josh thought that was the end of the questioning. “I think it’s on their sides.”

“Why do you think that?” Josh asked. Admittedly, he wasn’t paying too close attention. Ella was sitting at the breakfast bar of the kitchen while Josh flipped through a magazine Donna had left out that morning.

“Cuz that’s what my fish is doing this morning.” Ella said shrugging. “I never saw him sleep on his side like that. But I just thought that he probably sleeped while I was at school, and I didn’t see it before.”

Josh froze in place and his eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Your fish is floating on its side?” he squeaked.

“Uh-huh.”

“Shit.” Josh said pushing himself away from the counter and moving out of the kitchen into the living room.

“Daddy, that was a bad word!” Ella scolded following her father.

“I know, Ella! I know.” Josh replied. Ella was always scolding her father for his bad language. She followed her father through the living room, through the foyer, up the grand, sweeping staircase and into her bedroom. Josh moved right to the 10-gallon fish tank in her room. Sure enough, Ella’s gold fish was floating on it’s side in water that looked like it came from the lake.

“Ella, how long has this water looked like that?” Josh asked motioning to the tank.

“I don’t know.” she shrugged.

“Have you been feeding him?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Josh!” called a voice from downstairs.

“Up here, Mike!” Josh called back turning back to the tank and wondering how he was going to explain this to his daughter.

A moment later, Mike Casper entered Ella’s room. “What’s going on?” Mike greeted, and Josh merely pointed to the tank.

“Ooohh.” Mike said when he saw the fish. “Uh-oh.”

“Don’t talk so loud, Uncle Mike. Flounder’s sleeping.” Ella hushed.

“Uh...” Mike began.

“Princess,” Josh began calmly. “Flounder’s not sleeping, he’s dead.”

“Dead?” Ella asked as if she couldn’t believe such a thing. “I don’t get it.”

“Well, Flounder must have been sick.” Josh explained.

“That’s the biggest goldfish I’ve ever seen.” Mike said peering into the tank. He lifted the lid to poke at the fish, but Josh smacked the lid back down on his finger. “Ow! Shit!” Mike yelped sucking on his pinched finger.

“Uncle Mike!” Ella scolded.

“I know! I know! Don’t tell your mother.” Mike acquiesced. “How did he get that big?”

“Fish get as big as their environment will allow them, it seems.” Josh said. “He was the only one in there, so he just kept growing.”

“You can’t flush him.” Mike noted.

“Yeah, I know.” Josh sighed.

“Flush?” Ella asked. “Flush him where?”

“Down on toilet.” Mike said matter of factly.

“Why would you do that?” Ella asked.

“Because that’s what you do when fish die.” Mike answered.

“We’re not going to do that, baby!” Josh yelped when he saw his daughter start to pout and her bottom lip tremble, then he shot a glare at his friend.

“What are you going to do?”

“WE are going to come up with an alternate solution.” Josh said.

“When Troy’s cat died, they buried him in the back yard.” Ella said.

“Troy!?” Mike exclaimed. “Who the hell is Troy?”

“From school.” Ella nodded. “And you’re not allowed to say that word either.”

“Haffley.” Josh supplied.

“Well, that cat got different treatment, Ella because that cat is Haffley’s familiar.” Mike said, and Josh stifled a laugh.

“A what?” Ella asked scrunching up her forehead and cocking her head to the side, as her mother was prone to do when she didn’t understand something. This gesture made Josh feel awful now for playing around.

“Nothing, baby.” Josh said.

“Are we going to bury Flounder in the back yard?” Ella asked wide-eyed to her father and uncle.

Both men groaned, but neither one could bring themselves to deny the little girl’s request.

“Do you even own a shovel?” Mike asked Josh.

“Yeah. Donna’s got a garden back there.” Josh reminded. “What are we going to put him in?”

“How about one of Donna’s shoe boxes?” Mike suggested.

“Good thinking!” Josh said snapping his fingers to his friend and they moved from Ella’s room to Josh and Donna’s down the hall. Ella stayed behind with Flounder. Mike followed Josh through the bedroom and to the extremely large walk in closet.

“Holy shit! How many pairs of shoes does she actually have?” Mike asked

“Do you honestly think I’m stupid enough to ask that question?” Josh retorted. “Every time she buys a dress for a formal event, which is only like 20 or 30 times a year, she buys shoes to match.”

“And you let her?” Mike asked. Josh straightened up and looked at his friend knowingly. “Right. Sorry.”

“This one should do it, don’t you think?” Josh asked.

“How the hell should I know?”

“Haven’t you covertly disposed of a body before?” Josh smirked.

“There’s room at the secret grave for one more, you know, Josh.” Mike retorted. “It’s a fish; it’ll fit in that box.”

Josh pulled the shoes out and dropped them on the floor, then he and Mike left the closet and headed back to Ella’s room.

“Daddy!” Ella squealed. “He’s just sleeping. He wagged his tail!”

“What?” Mike and Josh chorused.

“He wiggled a little bit.” Ella nodded.

“Oh, shit. He’s not dead yet.” Josh mumbled.

“He is too.” Mike mumbled back. “He’s just in that twitchy stage.”

“That twitchy stage?”

“You know, when you’re still twitching a bit right before you’re totally dead.”

“No, I don’t know, Mike. Why don’t you tell me all about it?” Josh said.

“Look, Josh. He’s dead.” Mike confirmed. To emphasize his point, he went over to the tank, lifted the lid and poked the fish with his finger. The fish merely drifted down a few inches in the tank and then back up. Josh got a shudder of the willies before moving to the tank with the shoe box.

“Oh.” Ella said dropping her chin in disappointment.

“I’m sorry, Princess.” Mike apologized.

“Will you take me to the store later and get me a new fish, Uncle Mike?” Ella asked looking up at him. Josh smirked as Mike’s eyes widened in surprise at his honorary niece’s request.

“Of course, honey.” He found himself saying, then looked over at Josh in surprise. “Good Lord, I can’t ever say no to this kid.”

“Yeah, join the club.” Josh muttered moving to the tank.

Mike picked up the net next to the tank and moved in to scoop up the floating goldfish.

“Careful, Uncle Mike.”

“I’ve moved dead bodies before, Ella.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Josh and Mike chorused.

“I don’t even want to know what Donna would say if she heard what was coming out of your mouth today.” Josh muttered to his friend.

“I can take Donna.” Mike replied.

“Since when?”

“All right, fine. Since never.” Mike replied. Once Mike had the fish firmly in the net, he quickly flipped him into the box, and Josh quickly slammed the lid on top.

“Okay! Let’s go to the yard.” Josh announced. Ella slid into her sandels and followed her father and uncle out of the house to the back yard. Mike grabbed a shovel out of the small shed in the back and Josh motioned to the far most corner of the yard.

“Oh, wait.” Mike said just as he was about to start digging. “You’re supposed to have a permit for this stuff.”

“What!?” Josh yelped.

“You can just bury dead things in your back yard, Josh.” Mike replied. “You’re supposed to get a permit.”

“It’s a fish, not a German Sheperd.” Josh shot back.

“Still.”

“Between you and I, we can handle the DC police if they suddenly appear, Mike.” Josh replied. “Dig.”

Mike sighed and dug a few shovel-fulls out of the ground. When they deemed the small hole deep enough, Ella took the box from her father and gently placed it in the hold. Mike threw the dirt back on top and patted it down with the shovel.

“Um, should we say something?” He asked Josh, who merely shrugged.

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine!” Ella began boisterously. Josh and Mike glanced wide-eyed at each other before joining in.

“You make me happy when skies are gray.” they chorused.

“You’ll never know, Flounder, how much I loved you.” Ella sang. Josh smacked his hand over his heart and dropped his head. “Please don’t take Flounder away.”

“Well, that was heart-wrenching.” Mike said after a moment of silence.

“Tell me about it.” Josh sighed. And the three headed back to the house.

“Can we go now, Uncle Mike?” Ella asked slipping her hand into her uncles. “I want to get a girl fish. I’m going to name her Ariel.”

“Cause the hysteria that would ensue when Ariel sleeps on her side won’t be TOO devastating.” Josh muttered.

“What, Daddy?” Ella asked turning back to her father.

“Nothing, Baby.” Josh said quickly. “Let’s go to the pet store.”

~THE END~


End file.
